Cell Phone Biographies
How do our phones shape the way we communicate with others? What do we expect from our phones? What happens when those expectations fall through? And what are the moments in our lives that make the answers to those questions clear?
In this series, we aim to give our own responses to that last question. With a bit of reflection, all of us with cell phones can all think of moments in our lives where something happened with, through, or because of our devices that led to a realization. These realizations might be about technology, communication, relationships, or any number of themes.
So, we want to know. What’s your cellphone biography?
Cellular Detattachment
27 November 2018
I got my first cell phone when I was 10 years old, just before I started 5th grade. My Dad surprised me by adding me to the family plan and gave me the new pink Razor flip phone from Verizon. I took that phone with me everywhere, even to the bathroom; “Just in case I get a call” would be the words I said to justify this action. I was 10 years old, no one was going to be calling me with anything that important. I used my phone for entertainment in many ways, even though I did not have any games or internet. I used to record my favorite songs from a speaker and save them as my ringtone.
I was one of the only kids in 5th grade with a cell phone. Children on my bus would want to play with it in the mornings and afternoons, and I recall loving the attention of being unique and loved any chance to show it off. My middle school had rules against phones in school: all phones had to be off once you entered the building, no excuses. This rule was not hard to abide when I first got my phone because my father was alway enforcing similar rules, but as I got older, around 13, I began to think I was too cool to follow them. As time went on, more people began to get cell phones, and texting became a cool style to communicate with your friends. More and more of my friends got phones, and we all thought we were cool enough not to get caught in school. Boy were we wrong. One day my phone vibrated right when my teacher walked by, instantly giving me away. I tried to act like it wasn’t me, but I knew everyone could see the fear on my face. I got two days of detention that week, and more punishments once my father found out. Getting caught was breaking a huge rule, which meant damaging the privilege that allowed me to have a phone in the first place. I remember being so embarrassed that I would take the battery out of my phone before school so I would never have to worry about that moment again. From that day forward, I never took it out unless necessary.
In high school, the rules were very different. Teachers would say they do not want texting or electronic devices in their class, but none of them would punish those who would use their devices anyways. There was no rule in the handbook that band electronics during class time as well, so many students would take advantage and use their phones to do whatever they wanted in class, even watch movies. The school tried to disrupt the cellular signal in some areas of the building, but only in departments, like science, to prevent signal interference in laboratories. Phones were out and on desks as though the school was just another place to hang out. In advanced courses, students themselves would choose not to pay attention to what is on their screen so they could focus on classroom instruction. Oddly enough, my school was known to have some of the highest test scores in Connecticut, so I never saw phones as a distraction, but due to the advancement in technology, I know high schools are today not the same.
Danielle McIntosh
Cell Phone Biography
1/30/19
Middle school flip phone
Not much functionality
Mostly for texting
Got a slide keyboard
I can set morning alarms
Plus a cool touch screen
High school iPhone 4
With so many new functions
No need for iPod
iPhone 5c blue
Turns out it was refurbished
Goddamn Verizon
Replacement iPhone
Didn’t bother with a case
It’s a used 5s
Lost it in the snow
Good riddance it was broken
No phone for a week
New iPhone 7
Still using this one today
Hope it doesn’t break
Use it for music,
Texting, social media
And a couple games
Should I lose this one,
I would have to pay for it
Can’t afford that now
Thank you for reading
My cell phone biography
(Wrote this on my phone)
Nina Mellor
Cell Phone Biography
5 February 2019
I got my first cell phone for my birthday at the end of eighth grade, and I distinctly remember that I was the last of my friends to get on the bandwagon. By the time I finally got my hands on that brand new Samsung Chocolate flip phone, my classmates had already moved on to the latest and greatest. While they were all rejoicing over the multitude of different apps, games and messaging features, I was just happy that I didn’t have to call my friends from my family’s landline anymore. I never felt left out. The wait for a cell phone had been a long one for me, but finally getting one felt like a sweet victory, and I wasn’t going to let my friends’ high scores in doodle jump squander that. I now have an iPhone SE, which for the past year has felt brand new to me. However, now that Apple quietly discontinued the SE after launching their brand new line of phones, I’ve realized that I’ll never be up to date with cellular technology, because sometimes it just isn’t feasible to always have the latest and greatest. Today, I view my cell phone as a distraction. While I can acknowledge its many useful aspects, such as imessage, facetime, Apple Wallet, etc., I struggle to maintain a proper balance of utilizing these features while also keeping the device from stalling my overall productivity, or distracting me in social settings. For me, having a cell phone now feels a lot less like the victory I thought it to be in middle school, but rather a constant tug-of-war for my attention.
Everyday there are new leaps in cellular communication, and it is fascinating to see how we adapt, or how we stay the same in the face of groundbreaking innovation. This is what drew me to the Cellular Connections project, and I look forward to acquiring a greater depth of understanding into the relationship between cell phones and people.
Owen Vacheron
I Perpetuate the Stereotype
5 February 2019
In middle school, my smartphone was a novelty. I remember the excitement of getting my first “smartphone”. I had one of those cellphones with a slide-out keyboard. You KNOW I whipped that bad boy out when it was time to send a long-winded rant to my best friend. More importantly, I had this powerful technology that few of my friends had: access to the internet. I rarely ever used the internet since my phone’s archaic technology made a google search take far longer than my middle school attention span could withhold.
In high school, my smartphone was my social life. I would send thousands, even tens of thousands, of texts to a variety of group chats spilling tea and gossiping like it was my job. Not only was I texting, but I was sending photos on Snapchat, “snapping”. I was scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit. A distraction, but a fun one, my cell phone was more enjoyable than anything I was doing. Why wouldn’t it be? I was talking to Olivia, Serena, my friends sitting next to me, and my friends miles away.
And, in the terrifying march of time, college has come. These days I’m looking at emails, checking Blackboard, and doing assignments on my smartphone. Sprinkled in the stress are quick, distracted scrolls through Instagram and catching up on drama in group chats. I use an app to keep track of my plans and my sleep schedule. I use apps to keep my life together.
My cellphone is my entertainment, social life, and work life. Honestly, it’s become my life!
Mikaela Tajo
Cell phone biography
5 February 2019
My relationship with my cell phone began in 2013, when I was a freshman in high school. I originally got a cell phone because my mom wanted to know where I was and what I was doing with a way to hold me accountable for keeping her informed. When I received my first phone, an iPhone 4, I was very excited and eager to fit in with everyone else. The phone was a chance for me to join the Kik group messages and get my own Instagram account. I could now take photos of my friends and I, and make Vines. Having a phone meant having the ability to finally make plans on my own without my parents supervising all communication through email or our home phone.
Now, as a sophomore in college 857 miles from home, my phone is primarily a tool for communication with friends and family back in St. Louis. I follow all my friends and family on Facebook and Instagram; I call them on Facetime; and I text them every day. Without a phone, I cannot imagine how homesick I would be. In addition, much of my life in college relies on my phone. I am constantly using my phone for practical purposes--Uber, my calendar, GroupMe to manage clubs, and calling/texting my friends to make plans. Even more, when I want to relax or take a break, the first thing I choose to use is my phone. It has become ingrained in almost every aspect of my day, and I honestly cannot imagine life without it.
Emily Bauwens
Being Cellular
12 February 2016
I bought my first cellular phone under duress. I didn’t want a tether. The specific circumstances — who was able to persuade me to get one, and why — will be left for another time. But the point is that from the start, my relationship with the object has been ambivalent. Nowadays, I listen to music and podcasts on it, record song-ideas and fieldwork interviews, check Facebook, text (yes, instead of calling), and take pictures — mostly on Instagram. I also tune my guitar with it, look up facts with it, and sometimes sense that it is vibrating in my pocket (when it isn’t). Thus, my whole interest in this device is about the back-and-forth — the semi-antagonistic dance that most of us are engaged in with our cellular phones most of the time.